College students opt for spring break cleaning
March 18th, 2009 @ 5:44am


Lesley Vertrees and Bol Bulabek could have been relaxing or partying on Monday during their spring break, but instead they were cleaning up illegal immigrant trash.

They are two of 10 students at Cochise College's Douglas campus who were participating in an alternative spring break program. Seven of them helped collect litter on a trail in Brown Canyon in the Huachuca Mountains on Monday.

The trash, left behind by border crossers, included everything from toothpaste and deodorant containers, to shirts and pants, to empty plastic water bottles and metal food cans. And then there were the backpacks _ lots and lots and lots of them.

Students involved in the alternative spring break earn one unit of credit, according to Michel Ouellette, director of housing and student life at the Douglas campus of Cochise College.

The program consists of four community service projects during the week, including collecting trash in Brown Canyon, cleaning the museum and doing yard work at Slaughter Ranch, working on gardening in Douglas, and painting at the Bisbee Boys and Girls Club.

The students helped plan the activities, and they must participate in three of the four projects. They also will reflect on their impressions _ both in a group setting and with a writing assignment, Ouellette said.

Bulabek, 23, who moved to the United States from Sudan about eight years ago and has lived in San Diego and Glendale, is currently in his first year at Cochise College.

He is happy to be involved in the alternative spring break. Otherwise, he said, he would be visiting his mother in Glendale this week and staying there would expose him to the bad influences of his friends who like to drink alcohol.

``Community service is better than staying home,'' he said. ``Also, it is a learning process.''

Vertrees, 19, who was raised in Douglas and also is in her first year at the college, said if she had not decided to do the alternative spring break, she probably would have gone to San Diego to visit friends.

``I just think this is a good opportunity to build up for my resume and scholarships and stuff. And, I figured it would be a good way to help,'' she said, as she held a partially filled plastic bag. ``I wasn't expecting all this trash in one place. I just thought it was trash here and there.''

The dump site was recently publicized. The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality organized the cleanup, with Cochise College as the lead local partner.

Bonnie Holman, the program specialist with the Center for Lifelong Learning at Cochise College, said that besides the students, there were about 20 members of the community who joined in the effort.

The group hiked up the steep trail at Brown Canyon to an area near the mountain's summit where the ground was covered with litter.

``Today, we took out 120 of the big yellow bags of trash and we estimate the take at two tons,'' said Mark Shaffer, communications director for the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality. ``We estimate that there were between 6,000 and 8,000 backpacks at that one site when it was first pinpointed.''

Illegal immigrants drop their belongings at this location because there is limited space in the smuggling vehicles that will pick them up along a road that is further down the trail.

Holman explained that border crossers hike for about three days to travel from Mexico to this particular site. Many of them are not aware they will be crossing a mountain and, therefore they are not prepared for the struggles they will encounter along the way.

``I don't like to see the immigrants being demonized,'' she said. ``The initial reaction is to be angry and blame the people leaving the backpacks, but it is also an opportunity to educate yourself and broaden your perspective on what happens when people immigrate.''


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